1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rubber mixture containing at least one rubber component, at least one filler, and, optionally, conventional additives.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Rubber mixtures are used for the production of rubber products for a wide variety of uses. Depending on the field of use, various demands are also placed on the corresponding rubber mixture employed. Thus, in addition to the rubber components of the rubber mixture, the rubber mixture contains other components, such as fillers, anti-aging agents, and vulcanizing agents, which significantly influence the properties of the finished rubber product. Therefore, suitable systems of polymers and/or other components must be prepared in order to obtain the appropriate properties of the rubber product. Fillers play an especially significant role in a rubber mixture. Thus, they contribute not only to reducing the cost of rubber mixtures, but their specific action on the rubber is also utilized. For this reason, there has been no lack of tests in which a wide variety of fillers, for example, were added into the rubber mixture. Thus, carbon black and silicic acid, for example, are known as fillers. It has been observed that rubber products which contain carbon black, for example, as a filler, have a sufficient mechanical load-bearing capacity, but with the use of these mixtures in tire treads, the tires demonstrate the disadvantage of a high rolling resistance and poor wet slippage behavior. An attempt has been made to solve this problem by adding silicic acid into the tread mixture, where a filler activator is required in turn for binding the silicic acid to the polymer. However, it was clear that rubber products which contain silicic acid as a filler and contain a conventional organosilane as a filler activator (e.g., bis-3-(triethoxysilylpropyl)tetrasulfide) insufficiently influence the hysteresis behavior and the reinforcing of the rubber product for modern fields of utilization. Thus, in particular for the production of vehicle tires (e.g., treads), rubber mixtures are required that, in the vulcanized state, lend the tire an even lower rolling resistance with an additionally improved wet slippage behavior. At the same time, other mechanical properties, such as durability, should be negatively influenced as little as possible.
EP 0 854 171 Al describes rubber gels whose surfaces are modified with vulcanization-active, sulfur-containing chemicals. On the surface of the gel, there are then sulfur-containing reactive groups (dithiophosphoric acid groups, among others), which permit bonding to the double bond-containing rubber.